Black Sabbath

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: The Battle for Black Sabbath
by Garry Sharpe-Young

For over a full decade Black Sabbath had dominated Heavy Metal. As much as Led Zeppelin scorned the term Black Sabbath embraced it. In an age of bona fide supergroups Sabbath were unquestionably the heaviest thing stalking the planet and quite remarkably had remained a solid unit where others around them suffered ongoing membership fall outs and line-up reincarnations. Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ozzy Osbourne and Bill Ward had weathered internal storms just as ferocious as every other band out on the circuit but had remained resolute. They had conquered the globe, sold close to 50 million albums and without concession had not pulled back one iota from delivering absolute, pure Heavy Metal. In 1977 the unthinkable happened. Ozzy Osbourne decamped. He would be lured back for one last album 'Never Say Die' before flying solo, rapidly building a band unit that would equal the repute of the mothership.

Between 1979 and 1997 Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne were pitched against each other in a titanic struggle unprecedented in Rock n' Roll. Both stars would employ the very finest players of the genre in the conflict and produce some of the finest Heavy Metal of the generation in the process. Tony Iommi, the man who without question invented Heavy Metal, fronted up Sabbath with vocal legends such as Ronnie James Dio, Ian Gillan, Glenn Hughes and Tony Martin against Ozzy's awesome arsenal of guitar innovators Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde. Both Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne reinvented their bands time and time again. The huge array of elite players that travelled through the ranks is now a constant source of fascination and rumours for Sabbath fanatics.

'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath: The Battle for Black Sabbath' reforges the author's two previous landmark tomes 'Ozzy Osbourne: The Story of the Ozzy Osbourne band' & 'Black Sabbath: Never Say Die!' along with additional material into this one definitive Metal milestone. Complete with over 100 photographs, many never seen before, and unique interviews, including with the late Ray Gillen and Cozy Powell as well as the highly controversial figure of Jeff Fenholt and mysterious Dave Donato, 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath' is the definitive account of those years (1979 to 1997) before the reunion.

Additional details: discography appendix detailing 264 career albums and singles from Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Bill Ward, Geezer and Tony Iommi; plus index with 694 entries.

Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years
by Robert Conte

BOOK DESCRIPTION: In 1969 four youths from the factory town of Birmingham, England--Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward--formed a group that would change music forever with their unique style of heavy metal. In 1980, Ozzy began an equally impressive solo career which established milestones in music history. Now, twenty years after Ozzy's departure, Black Sabbath has reformed with a new album and tour with one objective: to claim their rightful place in Rock and Roll history.

But how did these four men reach an unprecedented level of success and influence countless musicians to emulate them for generations to come? Read the true story of Black Sabbath...

The history of Black Sabbath during original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne's tenure in the group is told in Studio Chikara Publications' new release, Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years. (ISBN: 1-890313-99-8). This trade paperback, priced at $12.95, contains 48 pages with over 40 b/w & color photographs chronicling Black Sabbath's early days through their much-heralded, record-setting reunion tour featuring the original lineup of Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Tony Iommi.

Black Sabbath: The Ozzy Osbourne Years is available at bookstores, Internet bookstores, music stores, comic-book stores, and directly from the publisher for $12.95 + $4.00 s/h by sending check or money orderto: Studio Chikara, 244 Fifth Avenue #2464, New York, NY 10001.

This book was reprinted in Sep of 2002. As I'm friends with the book's author, I got this email from him (for the mailing list) on the subject of the reissue:

As many of you already know, there were some HUGE errors made by the original publisher -- errors that virtually erased Ray Gillen from the history all together. I had always hoped to be able to correct these errors, add some stuff that happened after the publication and generally make it a better book. I was told initially that there was little chance of a reprint, so I posted the "mistakes" at my websit and left it at that. Then the "Osbournes" happened. Now the even worse news.

Suddenly, I find that the new owners of Avon books (the original publisher), Harper-Collins is re-releasing the book with a new cover. I have not even seen the cover, but it's of Ozzy and described to me as "an awful retro-looking shot of his face." I would not have even known about this release if I hadn't chanced upon it at Amazon.com.

I just want Sabbath fans to know that I had no input into the new release and will receive no compensation for this new release. Since finding out, I have sent the corrections to the publisher, but do not expect them to make the changes. After all, they need to get this out while the "Osbournes" are still hot!

Rainbow Rising
by Roy Davies

From Joe: This is a very cool book - follows the story of Rainbow from it's genesis with Ritchie Blackmore's discontent in Deep Purple, through the Dio years, the Bonnet years, as well as the Joe Lynn Turner years. It briefly touches on the Purple reunion of the 80's, as well as Ritchie's attempt to reform Rainbow after he left the Purple Reunion in the early 90's. It also talks to Ritchie's playing the Renaissance Faire style of music he plays now. As there have been several folks from Black Sabbath in Deep Purple, this book is of interest to Sabbath fans! Check it out.

Ozzy Osbourne: The Story of the Ozzy Osbourne Band
by Garry Sharpe-Young

From Joe: I cannot say how much I enjoyed this book. The detail here is phenomenal - going into several lineup changes BEFORE Blizzard of Ozz came out - folks I had NEVER heard of before in the Ozzy band story. And it doesn't shy away from the lesser known periods of the band history either, like when Bernie Torme was guitarist right after Randy died. Some awesome, awesome stuff in here - I had a lot of fun reading it, and while I'm not naieve to think that I know everything about Ozzy's band, I have to say that there was a lot here that I had never heard in my 20+ years of being a fan. At this time it's only available for order from the UK. If someone else finds out otherwise, please let me know.

Here is some text from the book itself:

Until 1978 THE original and definitive Heavy Metal band BLACK SABBATH was fronted by the irrepressible Ozzy Osbourne. With Osbourne at the helm BLACK SABBATH sold tens of millions of albums. When he finally broke away to fly solo Ozzy would achieve the unthinkable. Not only would he deliver one of the seminal Rock records ever crafted to mark his resurrection but he also used it as a career making catalyst that would see him trounce his former band mates and evolve into a cult icon. Along the way Ozzy displayed an enviable knack of choosing a series of groundbreaking guitarists such as Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee and Zakk Wylde. There would also be the unsung heroes such as songwriter extraordinaire Bob Daisley and a series of world renowned bassists, drummers and keyboard players. This then is the story of the Ozzy Osbourne band - in their own words and detailed exclusively here for the first time. Chronicled with first-hand interviews, this is the real story of the first prototype Blizzard of Ozz band, how Ozzy met Randy Rhoads, the painful saga of Rhoads' replacement Bernie Torme and the torturous audition processes for successive guitarists and drummers told by both successful and unsuccessful candidates. The Ozzy Osbourne story - as told by Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Tommy Aldridge, Bernie Torme, Brad Gillis, Steve Vai, Phil Soussan, Carmine Appice and many, many more.

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